12 Desserts Of Christmas: #5 Dairy Free Hot Chocolate

What is more comforting on a cold winters day than hot chocolate? The answer is coffee but sometimes its nice to revisit our childhood with a cup of hot cocoa. I set out to create a creamy hot chocolate with as few ingredients as possible. I also wanted to lower the sugar content without sacrificing the smooth sweetness. With some help from my taste testers (Dad, Mom, Eythan, Dan and Kayla) I achieved my goal. A cup of this hot chocolate has about 15g of natural sugar in it. Just so you can compare, Tim Horton’s hot chocolate has 38g of sugar in a small.

You will need:

1/2 TBSP of Cocoa

1 cup of Almond Milk

1 TBSP Coconut Cream (put a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, cream will form on the top)

1 TBSP Maple Syrup

1 shot of Espresso (this is optional)

Start by combining almond milk, cocoa and maple syrup in a saucepan. Whisk ingredients together while heating on the medium setting. Once the ingredients are well blended add the coconut cream, you can make it creamier by adding more than was recommended. You can also adjust the sweetness by adding or limiting the maple syrup. The espresso is optional, it gives it a lovely mocha flavour.

I added some coconut whip cream to the top. You can easily make it by scooping out the rest of the coconut cream from the top of the can and using the beaters until it forms peaks. Store in fridge for best texture.

For a frothy texture I recommend purchasing one of these>

You can purchase one at Walmart for around $10.

You can also throw the hot chocolate it in your magic bullet and froth it up!